Intu thoughts on business development

The longer the team has been run in a routine reporting mode the quicker it should be refreshed and activated

Executive Team is a valuable support function for the CEO. Its working practices and work results have a direct impact on the success of the company. The longer the team has been run in a routine reporting mode the quicker it should be refreshed and activated to develop a better team culture and better results.

You may have had team recreational days, training and consulting to develop your team and you may have been left feeling that it did not really boost the team work or business. Still, effective team development is needed to ensure that the team has clear common goals and that the team is lead and followed up towards the agreed goals. It should be clear why the team exists and why the meetings are held.

Having set goals is not enough. The composition and skills of the team should be the ones you need in order to reach the goals. You need diversity and you need the team to be able to renew because what worked in the past may not work tomorrow. The team needs to work together and be agile so that useful decisions can be made. This does not mean that everyone agrees with the CEO and with each other. The CEO should ensure that all voices are heard in the team no matter how out-of-the-box they may seem. It would be a waste not to use the versatile expertise and ideas of all the members of the team. This requires an atmosphere of trust which the CEO should create. Leading with coaching helps in building the trust: by trusting, respecting and empowering the team members, by focusing on solutions instead of problems and by being open and supportive to new ideas.

In my most recent executive team, we had a rule that the leaders leave their business unit hat outside of the executive team room and instead put the Group Executive Team hat on and look after the interests of the Group instead of their own business unit or companies they run in the Group. This rule was created together and it worked. Only this way the discussion can be constructive and lead towards the common goals. Another good rule to have is to commit to forward looking operational and strategic topics in each meeting so that the meeting is not (only) about reporting of what has been. Actually, what I’ve seen is that the standard financial, HR and business unit reports are usually circulated already prior to the meeting and accessible, often even co-created with many in the team. You should ask what value it brings to go through them in the Executive Team meeting. If some of them can be left out and the saved time is allocated to more forward-looking items I bet this would motivate the team members a lot more.

Create together as a team your own meeting rules that you as a team find important in order to have useful meetings. This may include also basic items such as being on time and being prepared so that the time of others is not unnecessarily wasted. In my meetings (and also in my group coaching) we’ve created and looked at the team rules at the start and at the end of each meeting to ensure that we follow them and in order to reflect how well we did. Do this so that the rules are not forgotten and do not become a dead letter.

The ways to take your team to the next level are mostly found from within the team but an external coach helps you to stop, think and deliver this. A coach from outside of the organization that has business and executive background helps you to see where you are at the moment in terms of skills, motivation and practices and what needs to be done in order to plan and run the meetings in a better way. The discussions with an external coach may bring to the surface hidden reasons, assumptions and goals and may help unify the team towards common goals.

I’ve sat in many Board rooms where the main owners (capital investors from around the world) have been presented by their appointed Board Directors. In one Board where I’ve been the Chairman, the CEO was the biggest owner of the listed company and the former Chairman of the Board. Another Board consisted of all the owners of the company and I, the Chairman, was the only external member of the Board. The CEO being also the Chairman causes some governance issues. The company’s operational directors and owners being also the Board Directors easily brings the Board to an Executive Board level focusing on operational matters and not the important strategic and development goals. Inviting external Board members in is a smart move in many ways, not only because they should ask the CEO the “stupid” questions that raise the awareness to the often very important but ignored matters.

The investors with their appointed Board members often force the company to change course to a more structured and refined business. Opinions on the right ways may differ but it is always a good thing to have different views from outside of the operational business. Too often the new Board members are chosen from the same industry due to their earlier operational experience in the same business field, but the Board does not run the operational business and it should look the present and the future of the business, not backwards. How else could they develop the business. Diversity, disruption and coming out of the box leads to innovative, assessed and often more balanced solutions that is more ready to face the fast changing business world.

The role of the Board and the Executive team in my opinion is to support the CEO in defining and reaching the company targets in developing the company. The Board should not limit its role to the numbers only but look deeper. It should challenge the CEO in a constructive way by asking enough questions to understand to which way the company should go and what could stand in its way. It should raise the possible risks and bring fresh ideas on the table. It should also be agile in case a change of course is needed.

When developing the company, it is important to make sure that the company processes support the change, including the leadership culture and communication to the employees and other stakeholders. This is relevant already before any decisions are made, to ensure that the expectations of the stakeholders, such as customers, partners and employees, and the goals of the company are understood. Here communication is the key.

When looking beyond the numbers, the Board cannot rely on the CEO reports only while the CEO cannot rely only on Executive Team reports. To really know where the company is going, all decision makers need to keep asking what it is that we want and why, what the proposal really means and what stands on its way. Too often the CEO or Board decisions are based on assumptions that are guided by own mindset on how things are or should be. Board members often invite (and they should invite!) key directors to report in the Board meetings. Board members usually participate in strategy development meetings with key directors. When arriving to Board meetings they often meet employees on the corridors. What a great opportunity to approach the managers and ask what they think and what stands in their way. The answer may be politely positive or diplomatic but a lot can be read from the way the answer is given.

In their roles and as a group the Board may need support, not just from attorneys and consultants but also to function better, to refine the roles and working styles. The capital investors should give room and listen to other views and be ready for changes. Open dialogue that is based on trust between the CEO and the Board, and especially the Chair of the Board as the representative of the Board, between the Board members and between the CEO and its Executive Team is outmost important. A good dialogue involves active listening and accepting different views. It also means acting without unnecessary delay on matters that are communicated and require action.

The owners, Board and Executives should ensure that the business is on a solid base and responsible. The message of the importance of corporate responsibility must come from the top. It builds the trust and credibility that is necessary in today’s business world. But it is also good for the business. Without efficient communication it may be hard to be able to act in advance to ensure this. Corporate responsibility starts from the values of the company that should be well communicated to the employees and other stakeholders and must be integrated into the company processes and actions.

I was thinking the other day why it is that I was invited to executive, CEO and board cabinets quite early in my career. I never asked for it or planned for it. Last week I attended a wonderful conference on Coaching to Success, organised by the BCI business coaching institute. I was listening to a story by Monica Worline, Ph.D. and research scientist at Stanford University's Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education. She told us how she as a young student after some hesitation and with some panic gave honest and direct feedback to her highly recognised professor about his class. Though the professor was clearly expecting a totally different feedback, the result was that they started working together and still do.

The story made me realise that I also have always been very honest and direct in my feedback. I've never minded the unwritten hierarchy rules; I've talked to whomever without hesitation. Now with more age I can see that sometimes I could have been more diplomatic! But instead of being kicked out, I was invited in. I think this directness and honesty has been a strong enabler in my career. It has created trust and confidence for the leaders I've worked with. It has been easy for them to approach me and talk to me, whether direct feedback or just sharing their thoughts on the business.

I did not think I was being the best of who I was at that time. I was not sure if I was clever or skilled enough to be in the highly responsible roles I was put in or in the discussions where my opinion was expected to be heard. I thought that being so direct was not very smart. But on the contrary, I can see now, it made others see who I am and respect me for it.

As Dr. Worline said, we should try to see ourselves as others see us so that we would get rid of the negative bias we often have about ourselves. I try to remember this now that I am an entrepreneur and at times feeling a bit insecure in this new territory. With our reflected best selves we can transform moments of hesitation to moments of courage and untrusted terrain to trusted terrains. There we can use the capacity we have to enact our best selves. Positive feedback helps.

I was a guest speaker last week at HPP, a distinguished attorneys office of a personnel of over 100 of which 70 are attorneys and partners. I was asked to speak about customer expectations, based on my long background as General Counsel, Executive Director and Board Director in international corporations. We got a full house of attorneys, the 70 or so, listening to my presentation and discussing on the topic.

I raised topics and examples from real life, where I've personally seen an attorney making a difference or failing in meeting the expectations when delivering the service. I have been observing reporting at board rooms and CEO office and I've been in between the delivery ensuring that the message is fit for the purpose and the audience. The attorneys' offices have been from various countries.

As in any co-operation, I find the defining of goal together with the customer at the very beginning of the co-operation important. There you should hear and understand the expectations and needs of the customer and understand where they rise. What is the influence of the case to other projects and people?

The role of the attorney is also such that it should be in balance with the customer role. The customer should be heard and supported. It is the customer who makes the decision and answers for it. The same applies also to internal lawyers and any other expert roles: you cannot work alone.

The ways of communication define the picture of you and your service to the customer. Ask questions and listen. Be present, be interested. Feel the situation.

Sharing your experiences and helping others in your team pays off and creates a common voice for your company.

As a partner in the audience noted, the presented ideas on best practises with the customer should be applied, and he will, also internally between the team members. And as the communication manager of the company noted, these ideas are valuable and apply as well to any business, not just attorneys' or consultancy services. I must agree. Social interaction and co-operation, presence and being interested and having the focus on the defined goal and results work for us all, also in my services to my clients.

I had a wonderful trip to the Northern Lapland couple of weeks ago. I finally got to start the ski season.​I loved getting away from the dark and rainy Helsinki to the fresh, white snow. Each year at this time of the year, Northern Lapland looks like a fairy tale land, with its white, frosty trees, light blue skies and pink clouds. Not to mention the Northern Lights (Aurora) which entertained us in white and green when we dipped into the arctic natural pool from a traditional smoke sauna. I’m looking forward to spending a white Christmas there this year.It does wonders to the mind, body and soul to spend the days outside in that landscape. In Finland it has been a long business wisdom and tradition to combine business with a visit to Lapland. We’ve heard of great ideas having taken place while skiing or thereafter in the sauna or by the fire.Studies show that fresh air and exercise in the nature, especially in the forest, remove stress and clarify ideas. After the work out, you are ready for an elevating and inspiring discussion with a cup of something nice by the fireplace, following a hearty dinner in a great company and a good night sleep in a quiet cottage.When I ski, I don’t actively think much. I admire the nature and I enjoy the skiing. But thereafter, my mind is filled with great ideas which I can’t wait to write down and work on. I could not think of a better place for coaching than Lapland. You are most welcome to join me there and and have a memorable coaching session.

I went through my files last weekend and found some Executive assessments that were made of me some years back at the time the whole team was assessed as part of a team development process. I read from there that “it is important to her to believe in what she is doing” and “to agree with and understand the strategy”. A bit strangely put, I think. Of course every company should make sure that it has a sound strategy that is communicated so that it is understood and accepted by the employees. Also any company should ensure that the work is seen meaningful and motivating. Luckily, my self-confident attitude was seen more of an asset than a burden. I'm smiling here.

There was also an earlier assessment there from another company. With only couple of years in between, some assessments were quite contradictory. Could it be that you sometimes give the answers that you know are expected from you or that you think support a certain profile you want to show, even if you want to answer honestly? And most of us have different profiles at work and at home which confuses even more.

I recently heard from one company that their experts hate the profile tests and do not believe in them while the HR team loves them. Perhaps there is some Expert profile left in me from the legal counsel years. Otherwise, during my journey from Executive Director to Business Coach and Entrepreneur, I can see that my profile has changed quite a lot. Or to be more precice, I think my profile has changed and that has made me choose another path.

Catherine Fitzgerald wrote in her book Executive Coaching about the change of personality in midlife. She refers to the work of Carl Jung who asserted that the goal of the first half of life is to win for yourself a place in society, focusing on being a specialist whether as a parent, profession, business or way of life. In the second life, in contrast, the focus is being a generalist, on revisiting and incorporating all of the parts of yourself that you had put aside in order to make your way in the world in the first half of life. The goal here is individual integration and wholeness. The first signs of this change can be disturbing because we don’t understand them. A tough leader suddenly gets passionate about gardening? According to Jung, this period is one of preparation for a significant, although not necessarily conscious or obvious change that is about to take place. If we accept these developments and expand our sense of who we are, we initiate a rich, although not usually easy, process of integration within ourselves, Fitzgerald writes.

Many are familiar with the Jung’s profile test of three dimensions of individual difference: Extraversion - IntroversionSensing - IntuitionThinking - FeelingI did the test when reading the book this year and, indeed, the result was quite different from the one I got some 10-15 years ago.

There is an interesting article on Action Logics Leadership Profiles on HBR. They also are steps in leadership development path. You can read the article at https//hbr.org/2005/04/seven-transformations-of-leadership. If you are interested, I can help you do the test with analysis by psychologists.

Fitzgerald writes that a coach can help in understanding where you are now and can support in clarifying your present values and goals. Coach can help you in understanding and benefiting from the reactions that indicate new directions for work. This could mean expanding the present work role, developing the organization one step further, getting a new approach to work e.g. more as a team or with the customers or in a cross border project. Coach can help stabilise the change. This journey can be a huge learning experience and boost to anyone. I have had the privilege to be part in such journeys with my coaching clients and indeed -it has not always been an easy journey but an important one and a start to something better.

Many have asked how I came into leaving my General Counsel career behind and became a Business Coach. I have been a bit amazed about it myself as well. I lived so long in that role and it played a major part of my life.

I have been in a General Counsel position (Head of Legal) in several companies and industries since year 2000 and a legal counsel for six years prior to that. Aside of heading the Group legal services and the international legal teams, I have been a member of the Group executive teams and the secretary of the board. I have been heading also compliance, risk management and insider information management. The work has been exciting, independent, with lots of challenges and therefore satisfying. I have had the power and freedom to act in my responsibility areas, I have been respected for my work and I have been well compensated. I grew with all the experiences with different work cultures and growing responsibilities. From the start, it has been important for me to work for companies whose operations I found ethical and meaningful such as clean energy manufacturing and supply and IT security. With the 24/7 work role that I had, I’ve always valued time over money.

The last two-three years as the General Counsel were exceptionally hectic with a large IPO and a big court case on top launching a global compliance program and all the other projects and daily work. At the same time I was also a Chairman and board member of a listed company. Last year I looked at the picture from outside, not just me in it but the bigger picture: my reasons and motivators for doing what I do and what I wanted from my life going forward and most importantly, what is happening around me. I had 25 years behind in my career and many more years to come. I decided that it was the time for change. At first, it was surprisingly difficult to define myself outside of the work role, I had been living and breathing it for so long. I left my position promising to myself not to make any hasty decisions about the next steps but instead let the time tell. Very soon I realized that I cannot just be without doing something meaningful. I knew I was not motivated about office work and endless meetings. I love outdoors and it gives me the best ideas and balance.

I started thinking about what I've experienced. The ups and downs of companies, the good and not so good leadership styles, strategies and business cultures and what effect it had on managers and the business. I was looking deeper into the business trends and leadership styles and profiles, I listened to the experiences and interests of others in business. And then I came across business coaching, of which I did not really know much about. It sounded like something that could improve my role as a board member and mentor but also in finding my next goal. So I decided to give it a chance. I trained to be a certified business coach. Quite soon during my studies I noticed that it was the perfect addition and continuation to my board and mentor roles and the executive and manager roles that I have had. It became the exciting next phase for me, a way of supporting companies that are motivated in improving the work of their leaders and managers and thereby improving their business. My dream during the studies was to be able to give coaching to teams also in great outdoor settings.

Coming from such a different role, I was nervous to start the coaching but I felt strongly that it was what I should do. I was so happy to get all the positive feedback from the customers. My ex-team member from 2005 commented my first coaching blog that she realized from it that I was practising coaching leadership style already then. I knew I had found what I was looking for. I set up my company. Phase 3 of my life had started. And today my coaching retreat in 2018 in a beautiful landscape in Southern France was published.